Post War Reconstruction in Africa - The role of UNICEF: Gloria Kodzwa

by Gloria Kodzwa

In the early 1960’s many countries in Eastern and Southern Africa gained independence from colonial masters. While the Independence was marked with enthusiasm and the process gave raise to liberation movements, the economies of these countries were disrupted. There was  destruction to infrastructure, punctuated with unequal development and internal conflicts. Countries like Ghana and Ethiopia that gained Independence much earlier, served as models to shape UNICEF programs in the region.

Reconstruction for many countries meant putting systems in place and helping communities return to their home of origins. Schools, water and sanitation, hospitals, road network and agricultural activities were disrupted due to the vast number of landmines across the territory. Family and children’s lives were further disrupted by attacks on villages and family members were killed. Children (young boys and girls) were abducted, compelled to join voluntarily as child soldiers by so-called liberation groups.

Let me describe the situation in Mozambique. At the end of the war, and at the signing of the Peace Accord on October 4th, 1992; Mozambique had over 3,500 child soldiers. UNICEF was allowed to visit the detention centers of Frelimo and Renamo to assess needs and arrange for their re-integration. Jean Claude Legrand, Unicef Child Protection officer and I held discussions with rebel and Government leaders (Frelimo) on the release of the children a year after the signing of the Peace Accord. Afonso Dlakama (leader of Renamo) spoke fluent Portuguese and Shona, both languages I spoke as well. His cooperation, though suspicious at first, was facilitated by dialogue in the local language. The cooperation from both Government and Renamo was full, as retaining these children became a burden to them. Mr. Aldo Ajello (Head of UNOMOZ - the UN Peace Mission) and his team were instrumental in speeding up the process while engaged in  the planning and guaranteeing credible and fair elections.

UNICEF began its work in an environment of mistrust, weak governments, limited infrastructure aimed at guaranteeing the rights of all children. UN bodies were fragmented and working within their own mandate. UNICEF staff was mobilized and assigned to a number of countries with a clear mandate to focus on bringing stability to communities and to support the returning populations to areas of origin. UNICEF fostered partnership with international organizations in order to set up an operational framework. The Regional Office was set up with the assignment of Country Representatives deployed to the region, some with multiple country assignments.

Guidelines were developed to facilitate and guide country teams in the development of flexible transitional programs around Community/Rural Development. HQ provided technical support to the small country teams. Resources were mobilized to facilitate the implementation of two-three year country programs. UNICEF engaged a large contingency of International NGOs (mostly with emergency post war experience and limited development experience) in order to accelerate the country program impact while at the same time supporting systems for development alongside UNDP. The International NGOs were turn-key project implementors and served on a short-term basis while capacity and systems were developed.

Removal of landmines was a major priority and UNICEF’s Goodwill Ambassadors played a critical role in raising awareness of the dangers of landmines and the constraint they played in communities returning home and its impact on food production as returnees were mostly peasant farmers. Assessment of water points and sanitation as well the re-construction of schools and health posts became central to communities returning and guaranteeing community development.

Communities were engaged in prioritizing their needs. Local traditional and government structures were engaged in responding to the immediate community needs. Mr. Cole Dodge was the Regional Director, (ESAR) and provided valuable guidance during program discussion on community empowerment and strengthening communities to define needs and setting priorities. I still recall our conversation on challenges in Africa vs Latin America, where I am originally from, on community empowerment… he was a source of inspiration.  Dr. Nyi Nyi also visted Mozambique to encourage and motivate the staff to continue in our efforts in a  country that presents hope and a new opportunity.

Rural Development was a key programing area of the country program in many of these countries. In the case of Mozambique, the Government facilitated our role by providing accommodation in strategic locations where field offices could be set up, closer to communities prioritized.

Health infrastructure was a much greater challenge as greater resources were needed. UNICEF supported Governments in two ways, one was to increase vaccination coverage and provide facilities for safe maternal health to address increased maternal and infant mortality, while the health physical infrastructure could be put in place.

A construction unit was set up in a number of country offices to accelerate the reconstruction process. In the case of Mozambique, the technical unit in UNICEF was Tierri (architect) and a local technical staff Luis Felipe Lebouff (engineer) worked closely with the relevant construction units in the Ministries of Health and Education. One important observation after the first community engagement, as a community in Manica prioritized water, education, and health. When asked about latrines, the response was “look around, we have a lot of bushes here”.

The communities had developed mud and pole structures so that children would stop learning under trees until more transitional structures could be built. Communities came together and built a mud and daga structure. Once the Government agreed on the school structures policy, UNICEF supported the construction of water sources, and latrines at the schools.

UNICEF enjoyed a very strong relationship with Government where a common vision to accelerate post- war reconstruction resulting in increased vaccination coverage, reduction of child mortality and increased education attainment in the first post-war Country Program plan.

In recognition of this very strong partnership, the Government of Mozambique celebrated its partnership through the issuance of a postal stamp recognizing UNICEF 20 year partnership with the people of Mozambique. During the internal war, UNICEF had continued to support the Vaccination program and Mozambique had the  highest EPI coverage. The late President Samora Machel strongly advocated door to door vaccination programs which ensured high immunization coverage.

(UNICEF History documents draw on the accounts written by Karl Eric Knutsson, Regional Director ESAR in 1980s. "UNICEF 20 years in the Region" is a good account on the role of UNICEF programming in the Republic of South Africa as it impacted on Southern Africa). I worked with Pauline, his wife, on the documentation in the late 1990s. Karl Eric's  vast experience in the region was also reflective of his conversations with world leaders and his accounts are documented in his book, Children: Noble Causes or Worthy Citizens.

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